Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles enter the "fast lane"

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are known as the "ultimate environmentally friendly vehicles" due to their low emissions, resistance to low temperatures, and long driving range, which makes them "hydrogen-bound" with the Winter Olympics. Nearly a thousand hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been put into use, and large-scale multi-scenario applications have promoted the development of the industry. Although affected by many factors such as high costs, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with obvious advantages have not yet been scaled up. However, the large-scale demonstration application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has well verified its importance, accumulated experience for industrial development, and will accelerate the implementation of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry.

Mass Admission to the Winter Olympics

As the first major international event hosted by China after it announced its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, the carbon emissions generated by the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be completely neutralized. To ensure the concept of a green Winter Olympics, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, known as the "ultimate environmentally friendly vehicles," have taken on the important task of transportation during the Winter Olympics.

It is understood that a total of 816 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be used as the main transport force for demonstration operation services in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which is the largest investment in major international events so far. Among them, the number of buses has set a record for the largest number of hydrogen fuel cell buses serving international sports events in history.

As a global partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota is a major vehicle provider for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The vehicles put into use include Toyota's new MIRAI second-generation passenger car, the Toyota Coaster minibus that was developed and produced locally for the first time, and the bus developed by Toyota and Foton for the first time. One of the MIRAIs is the special car for Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee. Kenji Gondo, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Research and Development Center (China), said: "The vehicles will be used as VIP and athlete vehicles between high-speed rail stations, the Winter Olympic Village, Genting Stadium Group, and the Big Jump Stadium Group, and as auxiliary vehicles for the torch relay and award ceremony."

In addition, as the "host", BAIC Group's models also contribute to the protection of the green Winter Olympics. It is understood that during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, 1,223 Foton Auman buses will provide support for the Winter Olympics, of which 515 are hydrogen fuel buses, accounting for 60% of the total hydrogen fuel buses.

Accumulate application experience

Riding on the "tailwind" of the Winter Olympics, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry has been boosted.

Since hydrogen fuel cell vehicles only emit water during driving, they are called "the ultimate environmentally friendly car". However, despite the obvious advantages, the technical threshold for passenger cars is high, the cost of developing fuel cell engines is too high, and there are many practical problems to be solved in each link of hydrogen storage, transportation and refueling. It will still take time for the industry to scale up. However, the large-scale demonstration application of the Winter Olympics has allowed hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to accumulate experience. It is more conducive to improving product technology and enhancing the outside world's understanding of the industry.

Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that in order to ensure the smooth progress of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the company has made perfect preparations for multi-faceted debugging of products, thus accumulating experience. Liu Jihong, vice president of R&D of Foton Motor's AUV Bus Division, said that Foton had previously completed extreme cold tests in Hailar and passed the first domestic side impact test of hydrogen buses. The use of electrical safety technology, hydrogen safety technology, and hydrogen-electric coupling safety system fully guarantees the safety of hydrogen fuel cell buses.

Not only car companies, but also Beijing Tianhai Industrial Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the on-board hydrogen storage system, developed a 70MPa hydrogen storage bottle before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, breaking through the blockade and control of imported high-strength carbon fiber, realizing alternative applications, and solving the "bottleneck" technology of fiber. Yue Zengzhu, chief engineer of Beijing Tianhai Hydrogen Energy Equipment Co., Ltd., said: "During the Winter Olympics, we realized the batch operation of 70MPa hydrogen fuel vehicles, and 140 hydrogen fuel buses were first used as commuter vehicles. Industry insiders believe that the scenario-based application of the Winter Olympics has promoted the improvement of the industry in terms of products and supply, paving the way for the later development of the industry.

Car companies are joining in

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry is becoming a hot topic. In March last year, hydrogen energy was officially included in the draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan. As of 2021, the Chinese government has cumulatively supported the research and development of hydrogen energy and fuel cells with a total of more than 2 billion yuan; in December last year, the "14th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green Development" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also proposed to accelerate hydrogen energy technology innovation and infrastructure construction, and promote the diversified use of hydrogen energy.

"Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are an important direction for the development of new energy vehicles and one of the important application scenarios of hydrogen energy." Wu Zhiquan, deputy director of the Automobile Transportation Department of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are an important direction for the development of new energy vehicles and one of the important application scenarios of hydrogen energy. Beijing is implementing the development plan for hydrogen energy and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industries and actively promoting the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster.

In addition to local governments stepping up their efforts to launch favorable policies, car companies have also joined the market under the billion-level base of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. According to the "China Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Report 2020", the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China will increase from 7,352 in 2020 to 100,000 in 2025. By 2025, the market size of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is expected to reach 80 billion yuan.

Seeing the market prospect of tens of billions, the layout of car companies is also accelerating. SAIC Group plans to launch at least 10 fuel cell vehicle products by 2025, and form a production and sales scale of 10,000 fuel cell vehicles, with a market share of more than 10%. In addition to SAIC Group, Great Wall Motors' hydrogen energy strategy mentioned that it plans to launch the world's first C-class hydrogen fuel cell SUV in 2021, and land the world's first 100 49-ton hydrogen heavy trucks; in 2022, a variety of clean application projects of hydrogen fuel cells will be carried out in parallel. SAIC Group plans to launch at least 10 fuel cell vehicle products by 2025, and form a production and sales scale of 10,000 fuel cell vehicles. In addition, among multinational companies, Hyundai Motor Group is developing a tractor based on the hydrogen fuel cell heavy truck XCIENT FUEL CELL, which is scheduled to be released in 2023.

In Liu Jihong's view, the popularity of hydrogen fuel buses will accelerate, and they will gradually become the main choice for long-distance suburban public transportation and long-range inter-city buses. In the future, as the hydrogen energy industry chain is further improved, hydrogen fuel buses will also expand to more fields with their advantages of safety, comfort and low carbon.